Step & Hold
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 1689b: They'd all known it wouldn't be an easy transition for all of them, and one day Emily comes to see how it's been for Francesca. - Sunshine Girls 2 series


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 80th cycle. Now cycle 81!_

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**"Step & Hold"  
(Nora (AU!Beth)/Grace (OC)), Emily (OC; Nellie V.), Francesca (OC)  
Sunshine Girls 2 series  
_(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)_  
**

Emily was already running late when she went through the door into the girls' locker room to get changed for gym. She hurried to get her locker open, pull out her clothes and put her bag in, and start to change. She was lacing up her shoes when a noise caught her ear and she looked up. The gym teacher had a way of going into the locker room to seek out the stragglers, which just never ended well. Throwing her clothes in the locker, she closed the door very carefully, grabbed her second shoe and tried to tug it on to her foot, hopping on the other. Then she heard the noise again. That wasn't the gym teacher; there was someone in the bathroom.

"Hey," she knocked at the door. "Better hurry up before she gets on the prowl."

"Be right there," a girl's voice replied, and Emily blinked. It wasn't just that it sounded like the girl was crying; it was that she knew who it was.

"Francesca? You okay?"

"Emily…" She'd just recognized her, too. "I'm fine, I'll be there in a minute."

Her first instinct was to do as she was told, but then something held her to the spot. If she hadn't run into Grace after second period, she might not have known how they'd talked, on their way out of first. That left her wondering; then she knew what she was going to do.

She went back to her locker, took her bag out again and grabbed two things before going back to the bathroom door.

"Hey, it's me again. I'm coming in." She pushed the door open and looked inside. Francesca wasn't in any of the stalls, instead sitting perched between two sinks, her shoulders slumped, face blotchy from crying. Emily barely got to see it, as the other girl's head dipped forward. "Here," she slid a pack of tissues into her line of sight. "It's better than paper towels."

"Thanks," Francesca took a tissue out of the pack, wiping her eyes.

"This is for you, too," Emily held out the chocolate bar. "My cousin tried to sneak it into his bag this morning, my aunt caught it though, so she gave it to me. I think you might get better use out of it."

"I don't…"

"My grandma always said to keep chocolate handy when you're sad, to make you feel better." Francesca put it down at her side, though Emily could tell she did intend to keep it. "We can get out of here if you want. If you ask me, we're better off taking a 'skip' than facing her," she pointed back toward the gym.

"You don't have to do that for me," Francesca insisted.

"Well, it's feeling like a klutz day, so you might be saving my life and limbs right now. Come on," she held out her hands to help her hop down.

They snuck quietly out of the locker room, stepping out of the school and walking until they'd reached the spot they knew was outside the windows in the choir room. They sat on the grass, backs to the wall. Emily heard the crinkling of the chocolate wrapped and saw Francesca take a bite.

"Are you doing okay?" Emily slowly asked her. "I thought you were getting through it, but now…"

"Yeah, so was I," Francesca frowned down to her half-eaten bar. "I wanted her to be happy, I knew…" she breathed out, "I knew it wasn't going to be with me, not anymore. She's happy with Grace, isn't she?" Emily didn't know what to say but the truth.

"She is," she nodded. _She's really happy._

"Good," Francesca nodded, too, taking another bite of chocolate. Emily hesitated, but then she knew what to say next.

"Here I was, thinking at some point I might offer to find a girl to match you with, you know, when you were ready. But I know you're not." Francesca didn't reply. "So I can offer you the next best thing to a girlfriend... a girl that's a friend… this one right here," she pointed to herself, smiling when Francesca looked at her. "Okay, it's sort of cheating because we were already friends, with Glee Club, and with Nora. But after you guys broke up we just sort of… drifted back. I'm here now," she tipped her head.

Francesca hugged her. Emily was surprised at first, but finally she closed her arms around. She knew now how hard Francesca had been trying to go on and look like she was doing fine, but she clearly wasn't.

"Can't just hold it in like this," Emily told her.

"I know," Francesca agreed. "Just… don't tell them, alright?"

"Not a peep."

Emily held her promise. This was the kind of secret that didn't torture to be kept. Francesca was struggling, yes, but that was her own business.

In days that followed, she and Francesca would meet back under the choir room window to talk. They'd both gotten detention for skipping class when they'd been caught getting back into the school. They didn't complain, though Emily had a feeling their next time in gym class would be as unpleasant as anything else.

Then something happened. Not even intending for it, Emily had found what she called her 'special talent' to strike again. There was a new girl in Grace's ballet class. Emily and Nora had met her after meeting Grace there, and though they didn't know her much yet, Emily had a feeling about her. Her name was Sarah Ann, and for some reason, whenever they were around her, she thought about Francesca. It took two more weeks before she was able to confirm that she wasn't crazy, that the girl was a lesbian, and single. It was almost agonizing how much she felt right for Francesca. Then every time she thought this, she had to remind herself that Francesca was still recovering from the break up, that she wasn't ready. So Emily told herself, every time: she wasn't ready now, but someday…

THE END

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**____********A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
************always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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